Samsung Galaxy S III

The Samsung Galaxy S III is a great phone, and currently the best selling smartphone in the world, outselling the iPhone 4s and all other comers. The figures aren’t in yet on head to head sales with the new iPhone 5, and that may change things, but I don’t see it giving up much ground once they are.

It’s got a huge 4.8” HD screen, and yet it’s easy to grip and surprisingly light at 4.7 Ounces. It’s a real head turner too, with lines more reminiscent of the iPod Touch, as opposed to the iPhones of late. The casing has a nice feel to it, slick and sleek without being slippery; it really feels comfortable in your hand.

This phone isn’t just another pretty face, though. With a 1.5 GHz dual core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM on board, and the Android 4.1 OS (Jelly Bean), it’s a fast and responsive device preloaded with Android Apps that rival Apple’s best, and blazing fast 4G connectivity (4G LTE and HSPA+ 4G/3G, depending on the carrier).

It transfers files with other devices wirelessly via Android Beam and S Beam (NFC based features) just by touching the devices together, and the DLNA function (WiFi Direct) allows you to display photos and videos on a Samsung Smart TV, which is pretty cool.

It also has a Smart Tag feature, which uses facial recognition to match faces in photos to faces in your contacts list, and then it automatically displays the contact’s latest social media status updates for you.

It has both front (1.9 Megapixal, 720p video) and rear (8 Megapixel, 1080p video) facing cameras that are very good, comparable to some point and shoots, and it uses the front facing camera for Smart Stay and Face Unlock, two more features that take advantage of the facial recognition software. With Smart Stay on, the phone looks back at you every once in a while, and if it can’t see your eyes, it puts the display to sleep, extending battery life. Face Unlock matches the user to their contact photo and wakes the phone up.

S-voice (think Siri without the dry wit), Custom Call EQ (the phone plays a series of high and low tones, you tell it which ones you hear, and presto, custom call EQ), the list goes on and on. For me though, the real selling points are; Micro USB connectivity, drag and drop file transfer, an external memory slot that holds up to a 64GB microSD card, and a removable battery.

I’m an iPod guy, love ‘em, have ‘em all, I’m like Gollum when I’ve got one in my hot little hands, so I was a little leery of going with an Android phone, but the ability to load files without connecting to a specific iTunes library, use a cable that isn’t proprietary, pop in an SD card and replace my own battery has totally won me over, and the newest Android OS (4.1) is clean and routine, a pleasure to use.

Samsung’s ad campaign that’s set outside of an Apple store on release day is great, a guy with an S III holding a spot in line for his parents, then sharing play lists with his buddy by touching phones as he leaves, it says it all; It’s not an iPhone, but it has everything you hoped the iPhone 5 would bring to the party.

Brilliant marketing, brilliant phone.

My Take On The New iPhone

As you probably already know, the must have gadget of the summer of ‘08 is the iPhone. Whether it’s the original model or the new 3G version, everywhere I look I see people glued to the little screens. Of course, I’m at the Vineyard, one of the world capitals of conspicuous consumption, so it’s a slightly skewed demographic, but none the less, I’ve seen a lot of them lately.

Being the gadget guy that I am, I can’t help feeling a little bit of electronic envy. It is a pretty sweet little device and I’d love to get my hands on one for more than just a test drive.

Apple has really outdone itself on both the iPhone and the Touch. In both form and function they have laid down the blueprint for the future of personal devices. They still have a ways to go as far as things like on board memory and device pricing, but that will come along with time and competition. It’s the basics that they’ve gotten right, as evidenced by all the copy cat devices popping up.

All that being said, the iPhone isn’t the device for me.

Here’s the deal. The first problem is the single carrier. I’m not with AT+T, and I don’t plan to be anytime soon. For a personal phone, I have a really great family plan through another carrier. I also have a Nextel provided by my employer. I don’t want or need a third phone, especially one that needs an additional $30/month data plan to be effective.

Second thing is that I don’t want or need email and internet access on my phone.

Would it be a cool thing? Yes, but I have a hard enough time stepping away from the keyboard as it is. I don’t need a phone that will blur the line I’ve drawn in the sand to try and keep technology from preventing me from participating in life.

I see too many people in the head down, phone up position, ignoring their families and everything else around them, texting or surfing as if in a trance. Nuh-uh, not for me.

It would also be a huge problem if I got an important call and the phone cut out because I’d squandered my charge surfing or responding to email.

While mulifunctionality is a good thing to a point, I don’t want my music player to be a phone. We’ve already got 3 iPods. The most recent addition is the 3rd gen nano with video. In the here and now, I think its Apple’s (or anyone’s) best media player entry in terms of storage, price and functionality.

When it comes time to upgrade again, I’ll seriously consider replacing it with the Touch. I hope Apple doesn’t forsake this device amidst the current iPhone frenzy. I think it actually has more potential than the iPhone. In my opinion a Wi-Fi enabled media player is the ultimate. No plan costs, no worries about staying in contact if you fall asleep on the beach with it running, and no being tethered to a PC for content.

Before I close, I want to apologize for the lack of recent entries. We’re on vacation and I just haven’t had the right combination of time and internet access to do too much. I will have more later in the week though, as I’m seriously considering a new toy, an electric viola bass (think Paul McCartney). I just need to finish convincing my wife that I really need it. Her mission right now seems to be to keep me out of Island Music until my urge passes…